The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. In the course of integrated circuit evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased.
Various photolithography processes may need to be performed to fabricate these increasingly small ICs. A photoresist material is used in the photolithography processes. In particular, the photoresist material is often used to pattern the ICs and is removed after the patterning is complete. However, existing photoresist materials and the methods of their removal have shortcomings. These shortcomings may include damage to the layers below the photoresist material and/or incomplete removal of the photoresist material, which may lead to defects in later processes and may result in reductions in yield.
Therefore, while existing photoresist materials have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.